sainsbury's.ing news, they are halfng us their first underlying pretax profit is better than the estimate which was 351 million pounds. retail sales are flat year on year. they say first half comparison down bycluding fuel 2.1%. a lot of focus on the dividend. they are saying their full-year dividend is likely to be lower than in 2013 but have lots to say about their dividend cover in the years to come. let's speak to somebody who knows a lot about this, the cfo sainsbury's. -- a pleasure to have you on the program. tell us how things have shaped up in the first half. and how things will go in the second. you have seen lower profitability in the second half of the year. >> as you rightly say, we reported today's underlying profitability of 375 million, which is a beat. we are proud of our strong performance in the market. a new announcing today strategy for our business going forward. we have a fantastic business with great success over the last five years. we have a good opportunity to grow our n

retail,done you can sainsbury's and burberry.ake you to saudi's largest bank which jumped the most allowed. we will give you the latest on a national commercial bank ipo after the break. here's a picture of the markets for you. the session is low down almost 30 points. the dax down by 1%. down by 1.5%. we will break down the moves after the break. ♪ >> welcome back. i am jonathan ferro live from london. it is time to talk ips. the national commercial bank in saudi arabia jumped more than allowed during his debut trading. $6 billion in the middle east's largest sales trade ever. elliott, walk as to the details of the ipo. >> not a huge surprise given that many people thought this stock of the capacity to almost double once things settle down. at the start of the year, the capital market report said sox cannot rise more than 10% or drop by more than 10% in one trading session so that is pretty much it for the day. not usually exciting if you like to watch these fluctuations. below 50a shade riau's. many analysts say it could contin

tesco, sainsbury's along with morrison's.only of the four players that has managed to increase market share. like for like sales were falling. he talks about his five pound voucher as panic tactics being played. he says this is a shock wave that has gone to the industry. they are trying to say, we saw this coming. we saw this whole shift in the market two years ago. that is why they said, we are putting a billion pounds into reducing prices. >> and everyone started to copy them. >> sainsbury's yesterday said they are going to put in 100 50 million pounds. a drop in the ocean is what people called it. is companies really worrying about the future of this industry. i asked, will there still be four big players in 5, 10 years time? they said, probably not. the companies i grew up with aren't there anymore. if you have got trust, consistency, he is talking about tesco. >> you talk about this negativity around u.k. supermarkets. something notfind negative about them. where do we see the growth for asda? >> it is about innovation.

when i want to say things fluently, which i was worried about saying today, i sat by the recent sainsbury. >> well, for reasons that are probably too dark and personal and weird to go to, i have been on a huge thomas burr kicked so i was reading what cutters on the way down. i was reading in a strange way because when i woke up early in the morning i was reading on a kindle that i had a little tiny bar, so i was afraid of is going to run out. so instead of doing the obvious thing, to read until i ran out, i would read a few pages and into a sudoku puzzle an adult magazine magazine and read a few more pages. so going back and forth. i thought thomas braveheart would love it if you loved anything. >> yeah, it's hard for me to remember. the war hound in the world's pain by michael moore, which he wrote in 1981. i started reading when i was 16 on american history for an trip to england. i realized when i started reading him that i loved his language. you know, this is one of his books. he's like 100, but this is one of them that i had read. i love it because of his -- he's a science fiction m

. >> sainsbury is forecasting a drop in profitability. they are trying to improve the quality of brand items to combat mounting competition. >> coming, cops on camera. a picture of whoever uses your smartphone once it goes missing. expecting guy johnson on there. he sometimes thieves my phone. we will speak to the company's cofounder. there he is. right, let's take a break. see you in a couple of minutes. ♪ >> good morning. you are watching "the pulse." we are live on bloomberg television. now, as governor mark carney gets set to prevent -- present the inflation report, he is also marking 500 days at the helm of the bank of england. he has made a number of changes. tom mckenzie takes a look back. >> mark carney became governor of the bank of england in july 2013. he replaced mervyn king who reigned for 10 years. improving overseen an u.k. economy. he introduced forward guidance, giving consumers and businesses confidence to borrow. he has held interest rates. saying they may rise next spring. carney initiated bank stress tests to see if l

sainsbury is off the best part of 5%. sainsbury has announced plans to cut cap ex costs in order to roll out discounts to consumers. they forecasted lower profitability in the first half. boosted by a partial business, however, the ceo has remained tight lipped over government sales. you can see it's off just over 0.5% today. annette is in frankfurt with all the details. >> just after the market opened, the stocks were the biggest losers here on the german equity market and that is because those numbers, as good as they look, are missing expectations, at least when it comes to their revenue and also there are ebit. so it's a mixed bag, although the company is setting its 2014 and there is some likelihood of a dividend next year. the ceo was hinting at thinking about a special dividend. yesterday, we have that story from reuters that the german government looks into privatizing part of their stake or selling part of their stake. take a listen at what he had to say. >> what the government said is they had no plans for this

you have seen morrison's, sainsbury's as well.e really talks about the tactics being used by the other players. morrison's giving a five pound voucher for fruits and vegetables, he says that is panic tactics. in the long-term, that is not going to win anything. quantitative easing, that is not the long-term strategy. price,etting the right being able to fight against the discounters that are coming in. also, trying to focus on new innovations, trying to draw in the audience. >> what does he think happens next? he talks about the fact that tesco, we are waiting to see what they will deliver. the operating environment to get worse? >> i think so. says there won't be for big players in 5, 10 years time. he thinks some of the players will die over the next five to 10 years. you are not focused on trust and consistency and loyalty -- exactly. overall, he is saying the economy is improving but it is not making shoppers spend. >> caroline, thank you so much. great interview with caroline hyde speaking to the asda ceo exclusively. >> buga

am strong gains from sainsbury's.is the macro data that comes to the forefront of every investors mind. how many u.s. jobs were added to the economy? 235 k is the median estimates. unemployment is expected to stay at 5.9%. the interesting part of this is what happens to the dollar. big move in the dollar. this is what is happening in fx right now. euro-dollar up 0.2%. that has not been seen for two years. look at the two-day shargh. the draghi aftermath. that pretty much implies expansion on the balance sheet. can he do it? some people doubt that. mario draghi really firm yesterday. that is the story. you look at the major cross here, cable, sterling, it is lower. strong dollar. dollar-yen going through 1.15. where are we now? a strong dollar. the question is, as the job report comes in, if we get another pop in the dollar, these currencies keep going lower, how long and how much can the fed tolerate that strong dollar? >> thank you so much, jonathan ferro with the latest on the markets. up next, french president fran

guy on of a few weeks ago who was involved in powering a sainsbury's.other companies are doing this? of food stockenty available, so i think at the moment, it is not as competitive as it could be. as more and more plants get built, the space will become much more competitive. theou talk about refining science. i have done a lot of work already, but how much more efficient can it become? you talk about naturally occurring bacteria. can we artificially stimulate this process? having anssed with incredibly talented group of individuals who have helped make ins process that we operate the most efficient way. we are quite keen not to introduce external sources. atare very comfortable having a sustainable process that uses natural resources. >> we look forward to hearing much more about this. thank you very much indeed, mohammed saddiq, general manager at geneco. what have we got for you? first, bottom of the barrel. we are going live to vienna to bring you interviews with the ceo of rosneft and the uae oil minister. opec trying to decide how it is going to d

year you've seen hemorrhaging from tesco's market share, you've started to see that really affect sainsbury, as well, and it's hurting now. >> and i want to come back to you now. there's so much data coming out. let's talk more about the inflation data. i suppose when we take a step back, yes, mark conferenceny was dovish last week, but we have got a bit of wage inflation and growth. why has sterling been weak against the dollar? you can see why the dollar has been strong against other currencies, but not so much against the pound. do you think the pound is a bit too weak? >> well, right now, of course, the policy discussion where the bank of england is heading is dovish. inflation is below the 2% target. core inflation is below the 2% target. when interest rates are stuck at zero, the bank of england will concentrate on low inflation. it can't cuts rates any further but it can hike them. so when inflation is low, we'll just wait it out. and that is why of course the discussion right now is dovish for the bank of england. looking furthd forward, it seems to me some of the global risks right

food was up 1%, unlike the likes of tesco and sainsbury, they've done very well.o it's not been a great set of results, but it's been a better set of results than expected. and that's what is delivering the relief in the market. remember m&s had a big position from lone star, the american hedge fund who took a 1.6% bet against the company. i think there's a bit of relief in the air. >> and as you said, they beat on food retail. the low end is doing quite well. is that part of the reason why tesco has been struggling, because they don't occupy any clear brand in the uk? >> well, lisp, retail in the uk has diversified and polarized to their value level at one side and the luxury level on the other. so the likes of m&s have done very well while the german discounters have done very well, as well. as consumers, stop shopping in just one place every week. but rather goes through to one super store from one product, another shop for another more expensive item and mix up their weekly shop like that and people that occupy the middle ground, they are that middle grouped.

when i want to say things fluently, which i was worried about saying today, i sat by the recent sainsbury. >> well, for reasons that are probably too dark and personal and weird to go to, i have been on a huge thomas burr kicked so i was reading what cutters on the way down. i was reading in a strange way because when i woke up early in the morning i was reading on a kindle that i had a little tiny bar, so i was afraid of is going to run out. so instead of doing the obvious thing, to read until i ran out, i would read a few pages and into a sudoku puzzle an adult magazine magazine and read a few more pages. so going back and forth. i thought thomas braveheart would love it if you loved anything. >> yeah, it's hard for me to remember. the war hound in the world's pain by michael moore, which he wrote in 1981. i started reading when i was 16 on american history for an trip to england. i realized when i started reading him that i loved his language. you know, this is one of his books. he's like 100, but this is one of them that i had read. i love it because of his -- he's a science fiction m